AMA calls for ban on boxing after tragic death

Statement comes following demise of fighter Davey Browne Jr

SYDNEY: The Australian Medical Association (AMA) called for a ban on boxing on Tuesday following the death of a 28-year-old fighter after he was knocked unconscious in the ring.

Davey Browne Jr died early on Tuesday from his injuries from an IBF super-featherweight regional title fight four days previously, after his family authorised his life-support to be turned off in a Sydney hospital.

The father-of-two was knocked out 30 seconds from the end of the super featherweight 12-round contest against Carlo Magali of the Philippines, and collapsed on his stool before being hospitalised in critical condition with brain injuries.

AMA vice-president Dr Stephen Parnis said it was time to ban boxing. “One punch can kill — whether you are outside a pub on a Friday night or in a boxing ring — and this is the thing that causes young lives to be ended so traumatically,” he said, according to Australian broadcaster ABC’s website.

“It’s a terrible tragedy for a young man with a young family, but the fact that it was entirely avoidable just leaves a real sense of bitterness. That is why the AMA thinks that we cannot continue with it [boxing].”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2015.

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